31 May 2015

Manus censorship another sign of Australia’s contempt for PNG

PETER KRANZ

CENSORSHIP is real and being imposed by the Australian government against workers, whistleblowers, journalists and members of non-government organisations involved with the Manus Island detention centre.

The Australian Border Force Act, recently passed by the Australian parliament supported by the ALP and opposed only by the Greens, effectively turns the Department of Immigration into a secret security organisation with police powers.

Although the Act seems to be directed at Customs operations, it also seeks to regulate and control access to information about asylum seekers in immigration detention.

Under the Act, it is a criminal offence, punishable by imprisonment of up to two years, for any person working directly or indirectly for the Department of Immigration and Border Protection to reveal to the media or any other person or organisation anything that happens in detention centres like the one on Manus Island.

Section 24 of the Act requires that any departmental workers or contractors to the department subscribe to an oath. There is no detail about the contents of the oath, and it is possible that the oath will prevent individuals such as doctors and nurses, as well as organisations such as the Salvation Army, Red Cross, United Nations and Amnesty International, from fulfilling their ethical and professional obligations to report physical and mental harm.

Section 26 of the Border Force Act allows the Australian Border Force Commissioner to direct people who work for the department even if they are not employees, people like contractors, consultants and staff of foreign governments (say Papua New Guinea) or international organisations.

These directions must be followed.

This will inhibit contractors from abiding by their professional obligations or from following generally accepted standards required to fulfil their roles.

The Commissioner could, for example, direct that medical staff on Nauru ensure they seek permission from him before accepting a request to provide a briefing on their work to a medical organisation such as the Australian Medical Association.

The Australian government is making professional and ethical practice a subject of its own whim.

It is hardly surprising that Australia’s neighbouring countries, including PNG, are looking upon their southern companion with such dislike and are increasingly willing to take actions to irritate it, like banning Australian access to Bougainville – a ban which despite much Aussie sweet talk has still not been lifted.

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And in another twist in the saga of Peter Dutton, desperate for Australia not to be implicated in this, apparently a team of doctors has been flown from Australia to treat the young boy who has had a badly broken arm for one month.

Wouldn't it have been a lot cheaper to send the boy to, say, Cairns for treatment?

Mathias - to be fair, the Department of Immigration have denied this report. Some might say that the India suggestion this is a beat-up by anti-government activists.

Others might be more cynical and think that because the Australians got caught out by media reports, they quickly changed strategy and came up with alternative solutions to avoid adverse publicity and deny responsibility.

I think the boy will be treated - after all there are many excellent medical services available much closer than India (PNG? Vanuatu? Fiji? NZ?)

Through bitter experience I'm inclined to err on the cynical side when it comes to official explanations. Why would the mother make this up?
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It was immigration minister Dutton - a man who has a track record of struggling with the truth - who denied the India story. The mother of the child continues to insist that authorities told her the young lad, who broke his arm a month ago, would be sent to India - KJ

This is appalling. More details have emerged about the censorship of doctors, teachers, journalists, NGO's, religious organisations and anyone else working or reporting on for Australian detention centres.

They can go to jail for reporting abuse. And the traditional media is raising hardly a whisper.

Is Australia a democracy or a fascist state? This question now needs to be seriously asked.

Doctors and teachers working in immigration detention facilities could face up to two years in prison if they speak out against conditions in the centres or provide information to journalists, under sweeping new laws to gag whistleblowers.

The Border Force Act, which was passed quietly on May 14 by both major parties, clamps down on "entrusted people" in detention centres recording or disclosing information about conditions in centres such as those on Nauru and Manus Island.

Under the heading of "secrecy and disclosure provisions", the act says releasing information is only permitted by the secretary of the department responsible for detention centres.

"Under the proposed measures, the unauthorised disclosures of information, including personal information will be punishable by imprisonment for two years," it says.

The new law will be enforced in July in conjunction with the official merger of the Immigration and Customs departments.

Australian Medical Association president Brian Owler, said this was the first time doctors had been threatened with jail time for revealing inadequate conditions for their patients in immigration centres.

An espionage operation by Australia's foreign spy service underpins a new bid by East Timor to establish a maritime boundary between the two countries and gain a bigger share of the lucrative Timor Sea oil and gas fields.

Australia's tiny neighbour said on Wednesday it would reactivate arbitration proceedings in The Hague to nullify the treaty governing the $40 billion in oil and gas deposits and force Australia to negotiate a new boundary.

Australia had insisted on a maritime boundary with East Timor which conveniently placed the largest oil and gas reserves within Australia's control.

The long-standing dispute between Australia and East Timor took a dramatic turn in 2013 when it emerged the Australian Secret Intelligence Service had installed listening devices in East Timor's government offices during treaty talks in 2004, to gain an advantage in negotiations with the fledgling country.

The revelations from a former senior ASIS officer who oversaw the operation prompted the Australian government to authorise ASIO raids on the ex-spy, as well as East Timor's Canberra-based lawyer Bernard Collaery, seizing documents and data and as well as the passport of the ASIS whistleblower and placing him under house arrest.